In past years, the North American Junior/Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) have brought together multiple equestrian disciplines in a single location. But with the announcement this week that the three-day eventing venue was confirmed for Rebecca Farm in Montana, 2017 will break that single-location tradition.
Last month, the United States Equestrian Federation announced that Saugerties, New York, was the proposed location for show jumping, dressage, and para-dressage. The NAJYRC is an international-level competition, and so the venues for the event must be approved by the FEI, and the Saugerties bid is currently awaiting approval.
In 2016, the NAJYRC was held at the Colorado Horse Park in Parker, Colorado, and included dressage, jumping, eventing, and para-dressage. It had previously been held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington from 2009 through 2015 where it also included endurance; reining was also part of the event until 2013.
There will be no 2017 NAJYRC for endurance; the USEF reported that they did not submit a proposal to the FEI for endurance because “there was not a feasible option” for a venue for the event. At the NAJYRC level, the endurance race is 75 miles and does require a significant amount of usable land, although endurance rides are often done in shorter loops, so a full 75 miles of trail isn’t necessary.
While in past years the NAJYRC was a stand alone event, the 2017 competitions will be held in conjunction with existing competitions. Eventing will coincide with The Event at Rebecca Farm from July 20 through 23. Rebecca Farm hosts a CIC3*, which is one of the most prominent three-day events in the western United States.
If the Saugerties bid is approved, show jumping, dressage and para-dressage will be held at HITS-on-the-Hudson, from July 18 through 23. HITS-on-the-Hudson is a show series that runs from late may through mid-September.
Since its inception in 1974 as an eventing competition between the U.S. and Canada, the NAJYRC has a history of introducing young competitors, age 14-21, to international and team competition. Prominent Olympians who are NAJYRC alumni include Karen O’Connor, Lauren Kieffer and Clark Montgomery in eventing, McLain Ward, Greg Best, Lucy Davis and Reed Kessler in Show Jumping, Adrienne Lyle and Megan Lane in dressage, and Sydney Collier in para-dressage.
Find out more about the NAJYRC at youngriders.org.
Leslie Potter is a writer and photographer based in Lexington, Kentucky. www.lesliepotterphoto.com
Leslie Potter is a graduate of William Woods University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Equestrian Science with a concentration in saddle seat riding and a minor in Journalism/Mass Communications. She is currently a writer and photographer in Lexington, Ky.Potter worked as a barn manager and riding instructor and was a freelance reporter and photographer for the Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar and Saddle Horse Report before moving to Lexington to join Horse Illustrated as Web Editor from 2008 to 2019. Her current equestrian pursuits include being a grown-up lesson kid at an eventing barn and trail riding with her senior Morgan gelding, Snoopy.
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